Toothbrush



Jan. 12, 1932. cup- 1,840,384

TOOTHBRUSH Filed April 26, 1930 INVENTOR Gerald R Clifford.

5 l0 6y v 600 i .6&4 .4,

Patented Jan. 12, 1932 PATENT OFFICE i GERALD P. CLIFFORD, F FALMOUTH, MAINE 'roo'rnnnusn Application filed April 26,

The invention hereinafter to' b'e described relates to improvements in' devices for clean ing the teeth and its object, stated in general termsfi's to provide a't ooth-b rush in the structure 'o'f which are incorporated certain fea- 1 tureswhich when practical application is made of. them renders the operation of tooth cleaning more thorough and satisfactory.

' 'Inproperlycleaning ones teeth'-which 0 implies that allsurfaces as'wellas the spaces between the" teeth "shall beigone; over and acted" on by" the bristles of'the brush, and "remnants of food, 'filmdeposit and bacteria it is of the utmost'importance that the shape of the brush b'esuchthat its bristles can conveniently reach every exposed surface of the teeth, starting from the gum margins. It is a somewhat difficult matter, particularly with children, to manipulate the ordinary tooth brush to accomplish? the above mentioned object due to/the' fact that the inner and outer surfaces of'themolars and bicuspids, more'particularly at the -gum'-margins, together"with theinner surfaces of the remaining teeth are" es'peciall inaccessible, and experience proves that t es'e parts rarely receive" the brushing 1 required and for this" reason are highly susceptible to the ravages ofdecay. i V V 'The'obje'ctjand advantage of myimproved tooth brush resides primarily in itsability, when properly used, to reach and'operate on these portions of afpersons teethust refe'rre'd'" to, and which, when employing the conventional" type of tooth brushare ordinarilydeprived of'proper care. i

i A'conception'which in its fundamental as v 6. pects would be in acC'O 'Wi the spirit and intent of my a, invention contemplates'af tooth brush in which the bristles are arranged in the form of aT plan iew, the longitudinal and transverse bristle-carrying. members being-integral. I g e Taking cognizance, howeveig of the fact that a straighttooth brush is in certain instances desirablel construct mybrush, in its preferred embodiment, so that to all intents and purposes it isia-duplexafiair, combining caused by decomposed' 'matter be removed 1930; Serial No. 447,667.

in a unitary structure two distinct types of brushes.

In one form of brush included in my duplex arrangement the bristles are disposed substantially as they are in the ordinary tooth brush, that is, longitudinally of the handle, but in the other, through facilities provided to alter its form. the bristles are arranged in two banks, one disposedlongitudinally of the handle and the other positioned transversely thereof, evolving in this latter type a brush with bristles arranged in substantially the shape of the letter T.

The actuating elements employed to change the form of the brush from straight to T shape, or-vi'ce versa, comprise'a simple swivelling and locking mechanism and the operation to effect the change from one to the other type of brush requires but an instant of time and accomplished without resort to independcut or outside means.

A further advantage occurring from the use of my improved brush, when the parts are arranged in the TfOIID', is that'while the transverse portion is operating on the'sides of certain of'the teethas for instance, the 'molarsits longitudinal part is simultaneously'cleaning the crown surfaces of the adjacent teeth. I i' The character of my invention may best be understood by reference'to the description found in the following specification when taken in connection with the accompan'ying'drawingin which is disclosed, as an illustrativeembodiment, one which, at the presenttime, I consider preferable to other possible forms in which the invention might be carried out.

I'n'the drawings Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 represent, respectively, a perspective and inverted plan, in fragmentary views, of the simplest form of my T shape tooth brush;

3 is a perspectiveof my duplex brush, showing it in'its straight form;

Fig. 4 is the same as Fig. 3, exceptthat the adjustable portion is shown swung at a right angle to bring the brush into T forma- I tion; 100

Fig. 11 shows one application of the tooth brush.

Similar characters are employed to identify like parts.

Figs-land 2 ofthe drawings disclose the essence of my invention with respect to the disposition of thebristles which in plan view are arranged in T formation. 2

This brush, when itsparts are disposed as seen in Figs. 1 and 4 is unique in that the bristles readily adapt themselves for toothcleaning service at practically any angle at which the brush is presented to theteeth.

The back teeth are usually cleaned by a succession of short forward and backward strokes of the brush combined with a slight rotary movement thereof, using, preferably,

the form of brush shown'inFig. 4, whereas the front teeth, on their outer sides, may be cleaned by a combination of up and down and rotary movements of the tooth brush. And, although the T form is applicable and serviceable for operating onany and ,jall'of the teeth, a, straight brush may for some individuals seem best suited and advantageous for cleaning certain surfaces of the teeth which are most accessible.

Therefore, and for the foregoing reasons, I have constructed my duplex brush so that ma unitary structure there are provided the elements with which to procure almost in-- stantly either one of two different forms or types of tooth brushes, illustrated, respectively, in Figs. 8 and 4.

Fig. 4; shows one of the bristle-carrying portions swungat ninety degrees from the handle, convertingthe brush'into one sub.- stantially of the same form, with relation to the bristles, as is illustrated in Fig. 1.:

. The structure by the use of which it is possible to makethe change from one form of brush to the other comprises a base plate 1 secured to the portion 2 of the handle 3 by the'screws 4. n the outer end of'the base plate is a hole 5 through which operates the round part 6a of the locking pin 6.

Slidably mounted on the base plate is aslide 7 "having onits outer end a squared recess 8 which upon the forward movement ofthe slideengages the square portion 6?) of the pin 6. The adjustable portion 9, which, like the portion 2 carries bristles '10, hasa square hole 11 in which the small, square end of the pin 6 is fixedthe square construc- 111 of which movements may tion keying the pin to the portion 9 and preventing relative movement therebetween.

The edges of the slide member 7 are turned inwardly enclosing the base plate and holding the slide against transverse displacement from off the plate. A thumb hold 7a is provided for actuating the slide, which latter when retracted allows the portion 9 to swing in either direction; and when aligned with the portion 2 or positioned at a right angle thereto, as vseen in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively, the portion 9 may be locked against rotary movement with respect to the base plate by extending the slide member 7 so that the recess 8 engages the square part 6. of the pin 6. s i

The end of the portion 2 and both ends of the portion 9 are preferably arcuate in form, the former being concave and the latter convex. This is'forthe purpose ofprocuringa close joint between the parts when longitudinally aligned, as shown in Fig. 3. v

In use, the tooth brush illustrated in Fig.

3. is useful incleanin'gtheouter surfaces of the front teeth andportions of the others whose surfaces are easiest of access.

7 In the'Fig. 4 form its application covers a larger field as the laterally projecting portions of the member 9 perrnit of the bristles easily reaching the inner and outer surfaces of themolars and bicuspids, particularly at the gum margins, as Well as the inner sides of the remaining teeth-these places being the most difficult to clean and therefore frequently neglected when employing the ordinary form of tooth brush.

Fig. 8 graphically illustrates the utility of my T form of brush, the bristles in the trans verse portion reaching the inner sides of the teeth and gums while the longitudinal portion of the bristles operates on the crown surmovements adapted to procure thebest results in cleaning the teeth. They include up and down and crosswise movements ,combined with a slight rotary action of the brush, be. employed in manipulating my brush. I

In my duplex style ofbrush there are embodied" features which I believe characterize it as a universal tooth-cleaning implement and which in practical'use will be found to to possess superior merit. f

What I claimiis: i

, 1. A toothbrush comprising a' handle, bristles extending from one of the faces of said handle, near one end thereof, a plate secured to and extending forwardly of the bristle-carrying portion of said handle, an

aperture in the forward end of said plate, an auxiliary member having bristles thereon disposed beneath the apertured end of said plate, a pin fixed in said auxiliary member,

adapt-able ofrotation in said aperture, and

"means to; lock said pin against rotation in said aperture.

2. A tooth brush comprising a handle, bristles extending from one face of said handle, near one end thereof, a plate secured to said handle and extending forwardly thereof, a pin-pivoting hole in the forward end of said plate, an auxiliary member, having bristles thereon, disposed beneath the for- 1o wardly extended portion of said plate, a pin journalled in said pin-pivoting hole and fixedly secured in said auxiliary member, a squared portion on said pin, a slide reciprocably mounted on said plate, a squared, open end socket on the forward end of said slide adapted, when said slide is advanced, to engage the squared portion on said pin and hold it against rotation in said plate, and a thumb-hold for the purpose of reciprocating said slide into and out of engagement with 7 said pin.

3. A tooth brush comprising a main handle portion having near one end a bank of bristlesjextending outwardly from one face, an 2 5 auxiliary bristle-carrying portion having the same width as and a greater length than the transverse measurement of the main handle bristle-carrying portion, means to pivotally attach said auxiliary portion to said main portion of the handle, and means adapted to lock'the auxiliary bristle-carrying portion to the main bristle-carrying portion in, relatively, two different positions only, one in which the two portions are in longitudinal I 3 alignment and the other in which the auxiliary portion is transversely disposed on the end of the main portion, all bristles included in both sections of the handle pointingin the same direction regardless of the position of the auxiliary port-ion of the brush.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

GERALD P. CLIFFORD. 

